About Me

As long as I can remember, the study and practice of theatre has been the guiding passion of my professional life. I am a teacher, director and theatre scholar. What I enjoy most about teaching theatre at a liberal arts institution such as SU is that it affords me the opportunity to not only teach and conduct research, but also to direct. In fact, sometimes I use my creative, directorial work as a scholarly laboratory, collaborating with student performers in the creative and scholarly processes simultaneously.

As a case in point, my production of Cicely Hamilton’s Diana of Dobsons (1908) led to a published article and two conference papers on the works of Hamilton. The completion of these scholarly endeavors was directly impacted by our production of Diana. The students provided helpful insight and a new window through which to view the historical text.

As a theatre historian and director, I relish the challenge of breathing contemporary life into older, sometimes forgotten texts that invite our 21st Century selves to reflect upon our present by reconsidering our past.

I also enjoy directing contemporary plays that engage my scholarly interest in feminist theory. The students of the SU Department of Theatre constantly inspire me in the classroom and the rehearsal space. They are inquisitive, intelligent and creative. Like me they fully embrace the liberal arts, often making connections in class or in rehearsal between our theatre studies and creative process and their academic pursuits in other academic departments.

Professional Experience

Publications:

Book:

• Co-editor with Beth Osnes. Essays and Scripts On How Mothers Are Portrayed in The Theater: A Neglected Frontier of Feminist Scholarship. New York; Mellen Press, 2010.

Articles:

• FORTHCOMING: “The Evolution of Cicely Hamilton’s Edwardian Marriage Discourse: Embracing Conversion Dramaturgy.” English Literature in Transition 1880-1920. Summer 2015.
• “Burgeoning New Women of Suffrage Drama: Envisioning an Autonomous Self.” Journal of New Woman Studies, Vol. VI (Winter 2014).
• “Motherhood Displaced in Rachel Crothers’ The Three of Us and A Man’s World.” Essays and Scripts Essays and Scripts On How Mothers Are Portrayed in the Theater: A Neglected Frontier of Feminist Scholarship, eds. Anna Andes and Beth Osnes. New York; Mellen Press, 2010.
• “A Broader Definition for Subtext,” On-Stage Studies: A Journal of Production Research 23 (2000): 82-90.

Book Reviews:

• Rev of Cratinus and the Art of Comedy, by Emmanuela Bakola, Theatre Journal 64.1 (2012): 132-133.
• Rev of Courtesans At Table: Gender and Greek Literary Culture in Athenaeus, by Laura K. McClure, Feminist Teacher 17.1 (2006): 79-80.
• Rev of Theatre and Society in the Classical World, ed. By Ruth Scodel, Baylor Journal of Theatre and Performance 3.2 (2006): 121-24.
• Rev. of Achilles in Greek Tragedy, by Pantelis Michelakis, Theatre Journal 57.1 (2005): 149-51.

Courses Taught